Many passenger vehicles now incorporate an integrated communication system. A Vehicle Communication Unit (VCU) used in conjunction with a Wide Area Network (WAN) such as a cellular telephone network or a satellite communication system, allows for a variety of fee-based subscription services to be provided in a mobile environment. The VCU is typically a vehicle telematics device including a cellular radio, a satellite receiver and/or transmitter, a so-called WIFI wireless access point transceiver adhering to IEEE 802.11 or similar wireless communication standards, and global positioning capabilities. Communication through a carrier service may be initiated at the VCU via button press or through voice command phone number entry. In other applications, a radio communication link is established between the VCU and a node of a wireless LAN or WAN in the vicinity of the VCU to provide an additional communications channel through a wireless modem.
In order to initiate a wireless communications channel based on the IEEE 802.11 (WIFI) standard, communication protocol information must be exchanged between a vehicle telematics device and a wireless access point (WAP). For example, a wireless access point (WAP) requires authentication information from the telematics device such as a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the telematics device. In addition, the vehicle telematics device requires information form the wireless access point such as a wired equivalent protocol (WEP) key. The devices must exchange the authentication protocol data before a communication channel may be opened between the devices. However, simply broadcasting the authentication data between the devices is not secure, and other devices within radio range could potentially intercept the transmissions and obtain access or identity information to a vehicle telematics device or a wireless access point that is desired to remain private.
It would be desirable therefore to provide a method and system for providing a secure authentication of a wireless communication channel for a vehicle telematics device that overcomes these and other disadvantages.